Manvat Murders Review: Women & Crime – Raw, Real & Ruthless

In 1972, seven women were brutally killed in Manvat, shocking the entire country. The local police were unable to solve the case, so Special Crime Branch officer Ramakant Kulkarni stepped in to find out what really happened and reveal the hidden motives behind the murders.

Manvat Murders Cast/ Actors: Ashutosh Gowariker as DCP Ramakant Kulkarni, Sai Tamhankar as Samindri, Sonali Kulkarni as Rukmini, Makarand Anaspure as local politician Uttamrao Barate, Mayur Khandge, Kishor Kadam

Manvat Murders Director: Ashish Avinash Bende

Manvat Murders Release Date: 04 October 2024

Manvat Murders Available On: Sony LIV OTT Platform

Manvat Murders Released/ Available In Languages: Hindi, Marathi, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada & Bengali

Manvat Murders Number Of Episodes: 8

Manvat Murders Episode Duration: 35 minutes (Approx Each Episode)

Manvat Murders Critic Review:

The ritualistic Manwat Murders which brutally claimed the lives of innocent children and women and shook Maharashtra in the 70s, does it again. Amol Palekar had already put it effectively on screen in Akriet (1981). But relive the grisly times as creator-writer Girish Joshi and director Ashish Avinash Bende take off from Ramakant S Kulkarni’s book ‘Footprints On The Sands Of Time’ to go back to the village (spelt Manwat in actuality and Manvat in the series) where tantriks presided over human sacrifice and blood offerings from private parts in the unquenchable quest for a hidden treasure and to fill the womb of a barren second wife.

Ramakant Kulkarni (Ashutosh Gowariker), DCP, Crime Branch, Mumbai, disburses gyaan on how to solve a crime at the training centre for young police cadets, before the Home Minister despatches him to Manwat.

The theme is gruesome, the ambience (camerawork by Satyajeet Shobha Shreeram and music score by Saket Kanetkar) is eerie, as Ramakant and his men hunt for evidence to pin local politician Uttamrao Barate (Makarand Anaspure), his barren second wife Rukmini (Sonali Kulkarni) and her sister Samindri (Sai Tamhane) for the crimes that have left the village scarred and scared.

Against a backdrop of superstition, illiteracy and overriding, remorseless greed where tantriks are preferred over doctors, Avinash Bende keeps it slick. A milkman whose head cracks against a stone, a dogged cop in a nail-biting solo investigation in a milk dairy, intercuts between a raid on the dairy and pinning a guilty tantrik on a farm, and a constable tailing a suspect juxtaposed with the growing frustration of another in the lock-up as the DCP lets him stew… There’s plenty in the storytelling. Moving back to a gory crime as the investigation moves shakily forward effectively re-creates the crimes of Manwat.

There are sequences where Ramakant’s efficiency is questionable. He takes off on a junior officer for conducting a raid on his own and failing. But the DCP had also had a night out where his plot had flopped. At least the junior’s intentions and integrity required to be lauded. Also, the mother of a key witness is dropped off home rather glaringly in a police jeep when discretion should have been the watchword.

The lecture on superstition and blind faith by the DCP at the end is a yawn.

You also know that though this was a real series of crimes, there are bits that have been left out. What are the updates on Rukmini for instance?

Sonali Kulkarni as the abuse-spewing rich woman yearning for a child at any expense and Sai Tamhankar as her partner in crime are terrific, adding a cruel vulnerability to the rural woman. Ashutosh Gowariker in a wig needs to loosen up before the camera.

Manvat Murders – Watch Or Not?: If you’ve the stomach for it, this is a compellingly told real-life crime story.

Manvat Murders Review Score Rating:  3.5 out of 5 (i.e. 3.5/5)

Manvat Murders Official Trailer:

Manvat Murders Official Trailer (Credits: Sony LIV)

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Women & Crime – Raw, Real & RuthlessManvat Murders Review: Women & Crime – Raw, Real & Ruthless